


Chaotic Distractions

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Interdimensional Bridge [9]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons - Fandom, Rifts, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Chaos Theory, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-04
Updated: 2006-03-04
Packaged: 2017-12-09 01:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/768440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While working on constructing a massive dimensional portal in the Warp, Suzy gets distracted by a most interesting traveler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chaotic Distractions

Kid always did love ending up in new and unusual places, and the Elkandu universe was certainly proving to be that and more with each passing day. He'd dived happily into the computer for hints at theory and practical purpose, in between periods of tinkering avidly with bits of this or that which came to mind along the way.

Sleep was a commodity that he was happy in not needing, and his kind's natural affinity with magic and using it to sustain themselves meant only the occasional break for a food treat of one sort or another. Junk food of all sorts of course being the ultimate in brain foods when you came right down to it. The more he read through, learned, and practiced with, the stronger the itch became to get out and find _more_!

There was inevitably one name that kept popping up wherever he looked in connection to magic and technology, though, and in the middle of one night cycle the resolve to go find and talk to this most renowned Elkandu crystallized into action. Where would it end? Dunno, dun care, it was bound to be _interesting_ and that was all that mattered.

Suzcecoz, even though she didn't exactly leave a forwarding address, wasn't really particularly difficult to locate given the ship's technology, and really wasn't making any particular effort to hide herself.

Setting out blindly was a habit he'd abandoned a long time ago, for the most part anyway, and it wasn't like there weren't an endless number of places his target might be hanging out in. Hiding? He considered that thoughtfully, then shrugged and set about doing a bit of Seeking in one form and another, a grin breaking out as the results came back and would seem to indicate she wasn't really hiding at all.

All to the good, then, he mused cheerfully and gathered the few trinkets laying about. Not hiding was as good as an invitation as far as dragonkind was concerned! The return was kind of weird, seeming to bring back wild and changing data on the location, but he wasn't exactly unable to leap into odd places and get to the heart of them, now was he? Chuckling quietly, he looked around to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything.

Nope, he realized, nothing that wasn't already packed away or might leave his former hosts with questions or problems. All set, he started drawing in energies to create a portal. The fuzziness of the destination would probably mean he wouldn't arrive _at_ her, exactly, but he'd be close enough to be able to start a search. Grinning, excited at the prospect of being on the move again, he stepped through the portal.

He stepped out onto a vast slab of rock floating in the Warp. The energy of the incomplete Nexus was sufficient to draw in his portal and ensure that he landed here and not floating off somewhere less pleasant. The half-finished Nexus towered into the "sky", vast pylons partially covered in runes curving up around the island. The thing was so huge that it looked like it was large enough to even fit capital ships inside of it.

Kid wrinkled his nose as though smelling something bad, not completely fond of the turbulent energies around here or their 'flavor' though they weren't really unpleasant just... he shrugged and turned his attention to the nearby construct, dismissing the random thoughts.

"Oh yeah," he muttered, "That's what I'm looking for." He began whistling a jaunty tune and headed in that direction.

Sitting outside one edge of the incomplete Nexus, leaning against the base of one of the pylons, he saw a girl with pointy ears, black hair, and wild purple eyes. She spotted him and glanced over in his direction but made no move to get up.

Ambling over in that direction, Kid waved a hand in greeting and called out, "Heyo there! I'm new in town and was just looking for a..." he paused as though in thought, then grinned. "Well damn if I can pronounce it, but I think it's something like Suzycoz." He could have spelled it out, but that seemed like cheating.

"Oh," the elf said blandly. "You must be looking for Suzcecoz. She's over working on Pylon C. Good luck getting her attention, though." She rolled her eyes a bit.

Kid grinned at the news, looking around. "Which one's Pylon C? Looks like a nifty bit of a project, even if the neighborhood seems a bit rough."

"I kind of like it myself. Reminds me of home." She shrugged. "That one over there," Zuna said, pointing.

"Mm, dunno," Kid chuckled. "Reminds me a bit too much of some of the nastier places I've managed to find myself in. Always something to leap out and bite ya in the tail! Well anyway," he raised a hand, "Thanks for the directions, been wanting to meet her for a while now. Toodles!" He grinned and trotted off in the indicated direction.

"Oh, don't worry about the demons too much," she said before he went. "They stay away from here." She shrugged and waved a bit and went back to sitting around absently playing with minor magic.

Skidding to a halt with almost comical suddenness, Kid trotted back and leaned over to look at her. "Uhhh, 'scuse me?" he prodded. "Did you say demons? And you did say they stay away from here, right?" He really didn't like them much. Way too much trouble!

"Yep," Zuna said, absently making colored tracers in the air. "I keep em away. Cuz Suzy told me to. Said they'd disrupt the construction or something..."

"Ah, good!" Kid replied fervently. "Nasty buggers. Glad I didn't arrive any further away and run into 'em. Enough to really make you wish you didn't get out of bed this morning. Ugh! Anyway, keep up the good work!" he encouraged enthusiastically, then turned and headed back off once more to find Pylon C. Demons, ick.

It was a good walk away. A figure could be seen about a third of the way up the pylon, clinging to it like a spider for leverage as she worked on the intricate runes covering the structure. Though all things considered, she didn't really look dissimilar to a demon herself. She had blood-red bat-like wings and claws on her hands and feet, and a nasty barbed tail that she whipped about thoughtfully.

Kid looked around for signs of anyone else near the pylon in question, and finding no one else around he looked up at the distant figure thoughtfully. Now, if the elf back there was right and she was going to be difficult to get the attention of... he grinned impishly and darted to the other side of the pylon, returning to his natural form. Using his claws for purchase, and careful to avoid damage, he swarmed up and curled outward as he neared.

"Excuse me?" he sent with a polite mental knock, triangular head snaking around the pillar to look at her. "Would you happen to be Suzcecoz?"

He lucked out and caught her right as she was finishing a section of runes. She blinked and looked over at him. "Oh, hello."

Politely avoiding smiling, old habits and memories standing in stead as such things were generally considered quite... unpleasant to smaller beings, Kid replied, "I really hope you are, been looking forward to meeting you in person! I'd offer a claw to shake but, hey, anyway, people call me Kid."

He loved this new series of universes, so many interesting things and they didn't even bat an eye at his natural state! Hehe.

"I am indeed. I am Suzcecoz Ilawi, Roanin Riakeri, Celise Soulfire Shadowhand, of the Children of the Dragon's Blood, technomancer and soul mage. Pleased to meet you."

Kid grinned despite himself, showing a great many teeth in the process. "Definitely a pleasure to meet you! I've been reading a lot since I arrived and keep running across your name in the most fascinating places. Speaking of..." He glanced around at the pylons. "Looks like you're building a gate of some kind, but what gimmicks are ya building into it?" Bubbling enthusiasm and curiosity, a gadgeteer's fatal flaw...

"Well, it's really big," Suzy said blandly. "Although there are more than merely issues of scale in dealing with a problem on a matter of this like, not the least of which is dealing with the inherent instability of the Eye of Terror as compared to the calmer nature of the Ethereal Plane back at home, however Zuna has dealt with that issue partially, but--" She went off on a long string of technobabble.

He may not understand all of it, a few points here and there requiring a brief interjection of a question, but overall the idea of the thing was sensible enough to Kid.

The biggest question in his mind as the discussion went on only broke out at the last, "It really is an interesting problem, compensating for all the factors and all, but why not just build a model for it rather than go through all the trouble of making a full-scale gate that only someone else is going to use to get to a place you can already go?"

"Oh, the purpose of the gate is for fleet transport," Suzcecoz said. "Instantaneous transport anywhere in the universe for entire fleets!"

"Well yeah," Kid replied, reaching to scratch at an eye-ridge with one claw. "I kinda figured that. Just seems a bit boring to me to build something to move people from here to there in huge numbers when there's already a perfectly good example that'll move em a few at a time. Just a matter of scale, other than figuring out the differences in the energies involved."

"Well, it _is_ a modification of the smaller Nexus designed to move fewer people. Besides the fact that there isn't actually a Nexus in this universe at all that I know of anyway."

Even in his form, Kid managed to convey a bit of puzzlement. "You know the theory and how it works, it's just a matter of scale and a model to figure out the energy exchange, but you're out here doing construction work? I, uhh, guess I don't get it. Why not just figure out the model, let _them_ build it, and move on? It sure looked like you were more into tinkering and inventing than simple grunt work..."

"Oh, they don't know Tinean and I'm sure as hell not teaching them," Suzy said. "Sides, can't trust em to do it right after all..."

"Pfft, so the monkeys couldn't follow a plan, and?" Kid replied with a warm-breathed snort. "Not like that's your problem if they don't get it. Well, anyway..." he trailed off, a bit disappointed as the mental image he'd constructed had seemed to be more interested in _new_ things than... customer service. "Nice meeting you and all," he continued, "but guess I should get out of the construction zone."

"Er, what was it you wanted to talk to me about? I'm sure you didn't track me down halfway across the multiverse just to say that." She smirked.

Kid rumbled with amusement, despite himself. "Well actually, I just wanted to meet you and see if there was anything new and interesting going on. This..." he looked around and then back to her, "well, not really what I'd expected. What I get for getting ahead of myself when reading. Heh."

Suzy blinked at him. "You've something else in mind?"

"There's a billion things to be seen and done!" Kid replied enthusiastically, warming back a bit. "Personally I'm a bit fond of something they used to call Chaos Theory back on Earth, and tinker around a bit with it when inspiration strikes. Problem with it is you just never know what's going to happen with it. Hehe."

"Oh? What, with butterflies and hurricanes?"

"Never can tell, that's the beauty of it," Kid replied. "Love to try it out sometime on a larger scale if I can find a planet somewhere that doesn't mind the real estate prices dropping through the floor. Until then, just playing around in smaller ways and seeing where it gets me... pretty interesting trusting to it when deciding where you're going to go next."

"Oh, that sounds interesting," Suzy said. "I'll just... tell Zuna to finish up here... I know plenty of planets nobody really cares about..."

Kid blinked slowly, not quite surprised enough to let his jaw drop or start drooling but definitely tending toward it. "Seriously?!? Oh please, please tell me you're not joking. I've been wanting to try that out, and see what interesting effects it produces forever!"

Besides which, he knew the real intent behind it was to discern the true pattern behind the chaos, a veritable bonanza of power and knowledge for the taking.

Suzy hopped off the pylon and hovered in the air. "Joking? Nah, not at all. Hmm, nobody really cares about Mophilia..."

Kid bugled gleefully and leapt from the tower, soaring in circles and ending on the ground. "Oh this, this will be good, this will be _great_! Sure, it's an odd concept, but I've been tinkering around with a generator to create just the kind of chaos that we'd want to be looking at and studying!"

Suzy fluttered down and said, "Well, let's go, I'm sure Zuna can handle things here..." Suzy proceeded to casually open a portal to Mophilia.

She didn't really realize that Zuna had no way in hell of being able to finish this thing and was likely to get frustrated after a while and wander off to cause trouble again.

Kid returned to his usual form, clapping and rubbing his hands together in anticipation as he grinned. "Oh yes, time to play with some real fun instead of the same old same old." Without hesitation, he strode through the portal.

Suzy took human form and hopped through the portal, letting it close again behind them. Mophilia was a fairly boring pseudo-medieval world which didn't really have many people living on it at the moment due to having recently been slaughtered by an over-enthusiastic Khorne-worshipping elf. 

"Already has residents, huh?" Kid asked thoughtfully, not really concerned about it beyond the potential effect on the experiment, then grinned. "Actually, nothing like normal people to throw a monkey wrench into a nice, orderly setting. Perfect chance to observe their overall impact on the project!"

"Oh, most of them got slaughtered in the name of Khorne a few months ago. I'm sure they won't mind."

Mophilia, like most filler planets, only actually had one city.

"Eh, maybe distribute a flyer or something to let 'em know," Kid mused, then hmmmed. "That'd give them plenty of time to get back into their little colonies and be a control group, and disruptive factor to add to the data! Oh yeah, that'll be perfect!"


End file.
